AARP Helps People Old and Young Make Life Changes

Retirement doesn’t mean what it used to. A new site gives those "in transition" a tool to manage change and plot the next phase.

Deciding how you want to retire, or, more accurately, spend the next phase of your life, can be as complicated and stressful as choosing a career. These days, packing it in and moving to Florida isn’t the only option. Retirees, according to the AARP, aren’t looking for a last act but a new chapter. So the organization, with help from agency R/GA, has created an online platform called Life Reimagined. It’s a kind of extensive and multifaceted Myers Briggs test to help people of a certain age decide what’s next.

"There are plenty of organizations that may help you reflect or explore," says Barbara Shipley, Senior Vice President, Brand at AARP. But she explains that Life Reimagined offers six specific steps to "help people understand themselves, discover and clarify what they love or what they’re good at, and where they can go to pursue" their retirement dreams.

There’s also a "sounding board," component to the platform, which lets users invite friends and family to chime in and give advice.

AARP says that the online platform is easy to use, so no need to ask your grandkids for help with that confounded Internet, but that it could even be fun for younger audiences. "The platform and the tools are actually ageless and would be of service to anyone looking to navigate change in their life," says David DeCheser, group executive creative director at R/GA.